Grey City Future

With its near future setting of a San Franciso ravaged by climate change and protected from the sea by seawalls, the bulk of its population having moved off-world  in ‘The Scramble for Stars’ to start again on the megacorporate-sponsored colonies, and the use of Synths or biological androids as a pliable workforce in their stead, Carbon 2185: A Cyberpunk RPG feels very much inspired by Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049. Published two years after the latter film by British publisher, Dragon Turtle Games, Ltd., Carbon 2185: A Cyberpunk RPG is also noticeable for the fact that its mechanics are derived from those used for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. Although San Francisco is the default city setting in Carbon 2185 and the one detailed in the core rulebook, there are other cities around the world. The cities of London, Manhattan, and Tokyo are detailed in the Carbon 2185 | Cities Sourcebook, mapping out their glittering highlights and grungy lowlifes, whilst Berlin 2185 explores what could be a brighter future.

The Berlin of Berlin 2185 is different to other cities of the late twenty-second century. Whilst their response to environmental collapse has been to cede control to the corporations and slide into a cyberpunk dystopia, the Berlin Mandate Group, at the direction and donations of the Philanthropist has instead sought to share the city’s wealth. To use to protect the city, preserving the old buildings for prosperity whilst constructing more sustainable ones; to introduce a Universal Income and eliminate homelessness; and to establish a drone-driven energy dome over the city, protecting its citizenry, flora, and fauna from the worst effects of UV radiation and other contaminants—effectively, cutting edge weather control. Free from corporate control and capitalist drives, Berlin has become both a scientific and technological paradise and powerhouse.

Another big difference between Berlin and the other major cities of the world is the limited presence of the big corporations—Tusk in particular. The anti-corporate attitude is not just Berlin Mandate Group policy, but deeply woven into Berlin society. In particular, its Punk scene, heavily influenced by the Punk scene in London, but given a German twist in the form of NuWave Punk. A popular slogan of the Berlin Punk movement is, “Keine Unternehmen mehr, keine Lügen mehr!” or “No more Corporations, no more lies!”. The music and associated underground scene are nicely detailed, noting the degree of crossover between London and Berlin whilst emphasising the differences, that it is more accepting of LGBTQA+ members and LGBTQA+ bands as the ‘Gay Capital of Europe’, and that the authorities in the city have a grater tolerance towards the scene than might be found in other cities.

In general Cyberpunk terms, the description of Berlin amounts to a paradise. It is well organised and divided along need, not greed, the roads are uniform, the public transport system non-obtrusive, there are actual trees growing in the city, and at night, one can see the see the stars—unlike any other city in 2185. So where then are the tensions that will bring the Player Characters—or Cyberpunks as they are known—to Berlin and help the Game Master create plots and stories for her campaign. Obviously, one scale there may be tensions one band and another in the city’s punk scene, but on another, the corporations, with their limited presence in the city, would like to know the secrets of Berlin Mandate Group and how the city is run so effectively, let alone steal the flora of the city found nowhere else quite so obviously. For the most part there are jobs that most of the roles in the city legitimately. Docs are in high demand in the city’s medical sector, whether in emergency response teams operating in the city or beyond it or in medical research; Enforcers can find work as bodyguards, and even do clandestine work for the Berlin Mandate Group; Hackers can find work protecting from net-based and Sphere-based corporate intrusion; and the net-based and the Berlin Mandate Group might even employ a Scoundrel.

Some of these tasks are reflected in the new character options included in Berlin 2185. They include a Public Enforcement Officer highly trained in de-escalation and non-lethal resolution, but also heavily scrutinised  by their precincts and the Berlin Mandate Group for wrongful use of violence, and then Media Officer, Scientist, and Agent for the Berlin Mandate Group. The Media Officer will be covering up details as well as presenting them to the press; the Scientist will have access to some of the most advanced technology on the planet; and the Agent does the dirty work that the Media Officer for the Berlin Mandate Group avoids doing. The others include the Eco-Punk Ganger—an environmentalist punk rocker, Drone Operator—much in demand in the skies above Berlin, Media Personality, and Construction Engineer. There is also a discussion of Origins for Cyberpunks appropriate to Berlin, of which Korporate Kids and Badlanders are rare and High Flyers and Sleekers uncommon. The most common are Regular Joes and Gutter Punks.

The various sectors of the city are also described, including a few notable locations, the feel of the place, what food and drink options are available, and what secrets are hidden there. This is followed by a table of encounters. For example, the feel of the Science Park is dominated by the smell of actual live plants and clean water in the fountains, there are vending machines from the city ubiquitous currywurst can be purchased, but few restaurants, and the area is home to Research & Development Labs, Tech Facilities, and the Berlin Mandate Group’s Science Division, as well as the Foresters Houses. The latter is where the city’s foresters live, their job to protect the city’s flora—with prejudice. The secrets here include the Berlin Mandate Group’s complex here, hidden by trees, and rumours of access to an old botanical garden from before Berlin was built over. Compare that to the Construction Sector with its Drone Stations, Barge Launches which launch the huge vessels that do the heavy construction across the site, often deploying massive 3D printers to manufacture on site whole buildings and parts of buildings, and the Observation Watches from their launch can be safely viewed. Its atmosphere is of low hum from all of the devices across the vast maintenance and construction complexes, the air filled with drones and transports. Food and drink are available via vending machines or at canteens, whilst alcohol is forbidden. There is a secret construction project going on here, one that requires printers and factories to operate day and night. All of the nine sectors come with a set of encounters that serve as prompts for the Game Master to develop.

Berlin 2185 does include a section on the Undercity, the dark underbelly of what is old and new Berlin in 2185. Out of the old buildings and tunnels formed through collapse and being built over, long poisoned and irradiated by war and pollution, a nascent organisation called the Cabal is trying to establish itself in the city above. It has corporate connections, but mostly consists of bully-boy asshole white-supremacist fanatics. The Undercity is the Cabal’s territory, but it is home to mutated plants and animals and former humans. (The supplement suggests appropriate monsters from Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition.) It is quite a short section in comparison to the descriptions of the sectors in the upper city and the city as a whole. Plus, as  really only the main antagonist in Berlin 2185, it does lack advice on how to use it and on how to interface its plans with the upper world, as well as possible hooks that the Game Master could develop into something playable. It leaves the Game Master to handle that.

Another issue with Berlin 2185 is its treatment of its secrets. Some it does tell the Game Master what they are and others not. Whilst the main two threaten to change the nature of Carbon 2185 towards a more Science Fiction genre rather than a Cyberpunk one. It is never quite explicitly explained what they and certainly the ramifications of their discovery are never explored. This would not be so much of a problem if Berlin was not so much of paradise and had a bit more conflict that the Game Master could work from.

Physically, Berlin 2185 is well presented with plenty of artwork to get across the idea that Berlin is a radically different, all but utopian city comparison to the others of Carbon 2185. Sadly, this leaves less room to depict the seamier side of the city where the Cyberpunks are likely to congregate. There is no map either and the layout is untidy.

Berlin 2185 presents something radically different for Carbon 2185. A city with a positive outlook and a sense of hope. The result is engaging, even fascinating in comparison to the other cities in this future, but it does leave the Game Master with a lot of work to develop content and story lines given the lack of conflict in Berlin. There is possibility in the well done section on Punk and the underground music scene, but the remainder feels as if the content could have been developed a bit more, made that bit more engaging. Berlin 2185 is a welcome addition to the Carbon 218 setting, but the Game Master is going to work harder to bring more than its utopia to life and tell interesting stories.

Cyber-Dungeon Classics I: Arcolgies

Zapped by a hi-res laser. Take the red pill. Plug in. Within seconds and the Player Characters are no longer in their world, but another. Somewhere in between, a liminal space of data and information, infinite realities and variations, where corporations hold and protect their data in fortresses and millions work, and even more flock to explore worlds that previously they could only imagine. They no longer are Player Characters, but ‘Users’, shifted out of ‘Reality’ and into ‘Cyberspace’ as ‘Avatars’. Inside this virtual world, this WorldNet, they face not I.C.E. or Intrusion Counter Electronics per se, but Intrusion Counter Entities. Their new world is not so much a virtual world as a cyberdungeon. ICE are not the only dangers the Avatars will face. There is a chance of being detected and worse being noticed by the deities that are the A.I.s. This is the setting for Netcrawl, the cyberspace setting and supplement for use with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game and the Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic, both published by Goodman Games. Published by Horse Shark Games, it works with other third-party settings such as Cyber Sprawl Classics, Crawljammer, Umerica, Terror of the Stratosfiend, and Star Crawl Classics. Plus, of course, it can simply be a roleplaying setting all of its own. Once zapped into this virtual world, what exactly does it look like?

Netcrawl: Arcologies is a supplement that attempts to address the infinite number of possibilities when it comes to what the virtual reality environments of Netcrawl and the WorldNet look like, what might be found there, and what threats that the Avatars might encounter. It is in effect a dungeon generator for a cyberpunk and virtual world setting that the Judge can use as prompts to develop the space into which the Avatars are cast and bring it to (virtual) reality. The first part of Netcrawl: Arcologies looks at its namesake with a set of tables for defining what a particular arcology is like. The generator determines an arcology’s tone and theme, functionality, appearance, and style, plus the primary form of travel to and within the arcology. So its tone might be disorientating or entertaining, its theme lines and vertices or grimy, functionality a beta release or fortified, and its appearance a polygon or shaped like a vehicle, and so on. In style it could be gridded or circuitry and if a polyhedral shape, a cylinder, cone, or rhomboid prism.

Thematically, one area that the supplement does not do is provide a means of determining who built the arcology and who runs it now. In the introduction, it acknowledges that an arcology can be run by numerous organisations, where that is corporate, governmental, or some other body, and that further this will suggest branding, function, and appearance. The inclusion of such details would have added further depth and detail to any arcology and help the Admin in the creation process.

The ‘System Raid’ tables set up a target and thus the basis of an adventure for Netcrawl. It sets the target as a random system building that is then layered into grids of nodes that are populated with agents or random I.C.E. These include connections, firewalls, agents, security portals, systems, and servers. This provides the target environment to be explored and worked through, but the look and feel of this space should be dictated by the previous Arcology Generator tables. Of course, the target can be determined wholly randomly by simply rolling on the tables, but the advice is to combine it with design choices. The process is not easy in part because although it is creating the equivalent of a virtual dungeon, it does not have the structure of a dungeon traditional to Dungeons & Dragons. So, it is harder to visualise.

The Admin can also personalise the A.I.s in charge of the arcology—or parts of it—with plans and personalities, and even give them hobbies to perhaps give them a weakness that can be exploited. Arcologies can further be populated by rolling the I.C.E. Generator that determines type, general appearance, colour, and form, and even allows for the possibility it could manifest in the outside world, from as ordinary a defence as a swarm of nanobots to a synthetic android.

The supplement takes the Admin to the seamier side of the virtual world with the Undernet, the equivalent of the Dark Web, but here treated like the back streets and alleys with a handful of encounters. Further, it is a bestiary of sorts, if the monsters and other threats are digital. There is Malware, virulent code that compromises a victim’s defences and can alter an Avatar’s appearance temporarily and even permanently reduce his stats, depending upon how badly the player fails his Avatar’s saving throw versus. Some of these are quite complex. For example, once installed, the reactive defensive code attack ‘Heartstopper’ automatically activates under certain circumstances and forces constant heart attacks on the victim, whilst ‘JOBE’ or ‘Joyous Omnipotent Brain Evolution’, grants a bonus to program activation checks and Wits check or Wits-based skill checks. However, if an Avatar succeeds by these bonuses only, it reduces his Hack stat and if reduced to zero, the sufferer is turned into a megalomaniac! In many cases, Malware can be removed with reversion control or quarantine.

The ‘Code’ rules get under the structure under AI, arcology, and Avatar, whilst ‘Exploits’ are malicious code that can be injected into an Avatar. Again, like the Malware, there are basic and more detailed versions. For example, ‘Couch Pirate 3000 (CP3K) – The Slacker Hacker’ is whispered about in encrypted chatrooms or foreshadowed by icons of a worn-out couch appearing on dead servers, and asks the question, “Why burn the system when you can break

it lying down?” Sufferers are forced to lie down on the couch and lose all speed (moving 0#) and suffer a -4 penalty to their Hack. That said, the couch can be moved, so making the Avatar’s allies do yet more hard work! The ‘Zap Generator’ creates Zaps, virtual drug-like experiences that provide temporary boosts, but which can be addictive. They fit the setting, but they do feel like way to get drugs into the WorldNet, whereas ‘Abends’ enforce the weird nature of the setting, all being code written to crash in unusual ways, ending in critical errors and other unexpected ways. For example, ‘nessuna.tmp’ causes intense drowsiness and an hour-long dream state that renders an Avatar vulnerable. Effectively, ‘cybersleep’, it has transcendent effects that make many ciphomorph shamans actually infect themselves and gain prophetic abilities and access to ‘spirit’ realms. Mechanically, after waking up from this state, users are slowed to a zen-like state that means they go last in combat and are slowed to a single action, but do gain access to insight that grants a bonus to an action die, saving throw, or Armour class, which can be changed from round to round. There are only three of these Abends, but these add depth and feel to some of the software to be found in the WorldNet.

Rounding out Netcrawl: Arcologies is a ‘Guide to the WorldNet’ that further develops ideas for its many, many virtual reality environments. This gives tables of rumours, events, and news items to use across various ‘neighbourhoods’ of the WorldNet. They include locations such as ‘The Spine’, the main highway of the WorldNet; the hedonistic, yet upscale VR playgrounds known as ‘Les Loisirs’; and the ‘Nightzone’ is the always-on, always-dark, nightlife district. There are nine such locations, not so much detailed, as brought to reality through the rumours and news in their associated tables. These are full of lots of detail that will help the Admin bring them to life using the tables earlier in the supplement to give structure to her WorldNet.

Physically, Netcrawl: Arcologies is a vibrantly, neon affair. It is not illustrated, but the colours more than make up for it.

Netcrawl: Arcologies starts by selling itself as the equivalent of the dungeon generator for Netcrawl, but it is not as an expansive as traditional dungeon generators are for fantasy roleplaying. It is more focused on limited structures, though these can still be quite large. However, the supplement does not limit itself wholly to that, but adds general details and elements that can be brought easily into play and expand the setting. Ultimately, Netcrawl: Arcologies is more of a companion to NetCrawl providing general support rather just location-building, but that does not mean that it is bad support.

City in the RED

Almost all of the famous cities in roleplaying are fantasy cities. Waterdeep, the ‘City of Splendours’ from the Forgotten Realms, and Sigil, the City of Doors from Planescape, both for Dungeons & Dragons from Wizards of the Coast; Freeport: The City of Adventure from Green Ronin Publishing; and Pavis in Glorantha for RuneQuest from Chaosium, Inc. Conversely, famous cities in roleplaying in the Science Fiction genre are few and far between. Both come from the Cyberpunk genre. One, of course, is the real world city of Seattle in the Sixth World of Shadowrun, whilst the other is the fictional Night City of Cyberpunk 2013, Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0., and Cyberpunk RED. Night City began life as Coronado City, incorporated in the early nineties and envisioned as a planned urban community by Richard Night on the coast of northern California. After his murder, it was renamed in his honour, but crime moved in and the city was dominated by mob wars for a decade, before corporate interests disrupted the activities of the various criminal organisations. Night City became notorious as a battleground between Militech and Arasaka during the Fourth Corporate War, which came to a head with the detonation of nuclear device atop Arasaka’s Night City headquarters which devastated the city’s Corporate Centre, allegedly placed by the famous Rockerboy, Johnny Silverhand. The reconstruction efforts, led by Richard Night’s widow and corporate interests, under a new charter, have been ongoing now for twenty-five years, disrupted by an earthquake, a terrorist attack by cultists who believe the nuclear detonation is sacred, and a near-war between Nomad groups that run the transport of passengers and goods in and out of the city. None more so than in the ‘Hot Zone’, the site of the city’s original corporate centre where the bomb went off. It is 2045, the Time of the Red, and Night City remains a heavily armed, corporate-run city-state in the south of the Free State of Northern California, a Free Port serving as the gateway to the Pacifica Confederation that consists of Northern California, Oregon, Idaho, Washington, and British Columbia.

Night City 2045 is an update of the Night City supplement, covering its history and current status for use with Cyberpunk RED. It is comprehensive guide to the city, an in-world handbook for the tourist or other visitor which they could purchase and download to their Agent called An Outsider’s Guide to Night City, compiled by independent Medias, each describing one of the city’s different districts. As the introduction makes clear, what this means is that the not all of the information in the supplement is true, so the players and their Edgerunners cannot wholly rely upon it and the Game Master is free to determine the veracity of any one detail or another. In terms of timeframe, apart from it being set in the year 2045, Night City 2045 is set during the events of Tales of the RED: Street Stories and Tales of the RED: Hope Reborn. This does mean that there will be spoilers present. The reader will also spot locations from other supplements such as Danger Gal Dossier – A Faction and NPC Guide for Cyberpunk Red and also elements from the computer game, Cyberpunk 2077. For example, players will recognise the Tyger Claws gang which they will encounter early in the computer game and will recognise the Royal Blue Radio, The Dirge, and Night FM radio stations. Long-time fans of Cyberpunk will recognise some of the in-jokes too, such as the descriptions of the Petrochem Plastics Plant and the SovOil Plastics Plant being all but identical—two sides of the same coin.

Besides a history and timeline of Night City, there is a guide to its weather, how to gain its citizenship (including a State Identification Number or SIN), getting there and getting around the city and how much that costs (including getting a driving licence and registering vehicles at the DMV), government, legal framework (justice tends to be summary, the arrested are presumed to be guilty, The Judge is an A.I., and fines can be reduced by public flogging(!) with an electro whip), public services from 911 (also A.I. run) and Backing to medical care and education, utilities and their provision, and media. There is a complete guide to the city’s factions—gangs, criminal organisations, and security providers. Be sure to avoid the Bozos, the faction-driven clown gang whose pranks are deadly; never busk without the Julliard Guild’s permission; and go to the Piranhas if you want the best party in the city. All of the factions have their badges or patches on show and these are used to mark their territory on the supplement’s maps.

There is also a full set of maps for the whole of Night City which show the various elements of the city are. These include its NCART and Rail Lines, bars, brothels, casinos and clubs, housing sites, and medical vendors and markets, with each map also serving as an index of sorts.

Two fifths of Night City 2045 is devoted to mapping and detailing its twenty-four districts from Little Europe, Upper Marina, and the Old Combat Zone on the Island and the Pacifica Playground and Rancho Coronado in the South Side. Each follows the same format. An introduction by a noted Media who provides an overview of the district, followed by details of its city manager and his politics, security provider, recent history, then its locations, and lastly personalities. It is rarely for any location to be given a simple, one paragraph description, most of them are fairly lengthy, and in cases of locations such as markets and high-rises, expanded to give the businesses and persons working and selling out of them. Similarly, the ‘McCartney Field Stadium’ details all of the teams and franchises based in its facilities. The descriptions are written in character, so Leon Vetti, writing about Downtown tells you that whilst ‘Europa Meatworks’ might be the best artisanal butcher’s shop in the city, beloved of foodies and sometimes offering some exotic cuts of meat, he wonders where the meat comes from, offering several suggestions in a conversational tone, whilst next door, ‘Folio’, might feel like a genuine fortune tellers, but that is all drug-laced herbal tea, laser-focused cold reading, and Garden Patch research! Nearby, ‘Goosetopia’ sells collectible vinyl models of geese in different costumes in limited editions. Utterly absurd of course, but in each these there is enough detail that a Game Master can develp a hook or plot. Maybe someone wants to know where ‘Europa Meatworks’ is sourcing its raw cuts, someone’s grandmother is spending too much money at ‘Folio’, and how far will a collector go to complete his collection of vinyl geese? And that is just from a single page. Just about every location description suggests something that a Game Master can develop.

Of course, there really is too much to go through in Night City 2045, but one district that most readers and Game Masters will be interested in is the ‘Hot zone’, what is left of the corporate zone shattered and irradiated by the Fourth Corporate War. So bad its Utility Code is 10. At the heart is the crater where the Araska headquarters once stood, surrounded by buildings in various states of disrepair, some barely standing, others shedding parts and materials like deadly rain. On the edge stands ‘Dark Zone One’, a black zone where any drone flown over it cannot record any footage, snipers shoot anyone who enters, and the urban explorers steer clear; ‘The Dump’ where cleared wreckage from the district is stored (and unofficially picked over by scavengers); and Father Grace, a pastor for the ‘Global Church of Elvis’, lives in ‘Graceland Medical’, out of which he operates an armoured mobile clinic, dispensing healthcare to the nearby scavenger camps for free. The district description is shorter than most, but it is the most different and environmentally at least, the most dangerous.

Night City 2045 does not confine itself solely to within the city boundaries. It goes beyond them to detail the Outskirts where the ‘Municipal Landfill’, ‘Night City Spaceport’, and ‘Militech Ballistics and Explosives Range’ are all located. Night City 2045 finishes on a wacky note, one that presents ‘The Happiest Place in Night City’. This is ‘Playland by the Sea’, a theme pack not part of the city, but just off the coast and with ‘Six Lands of Happiness’. It gives the kitsch banality of a theme park a sharped-edged twist of being run in the dark future of 2045, with the Piranhas gang running security and dealing drugs because anything else would be worse! Its six zones, such as Lovers Lane, Haunted Woods, and Grand Junction with its recreation of San Francisco in 1851, all lend themselves to some weird places to business or simply just run some downtime on a day out! The map of ‘Playland by the Sea’ is a really great, just getting its slightly cheesy feel right.

What does surprise about Night City 2045 is the lack of new rules or mechanics. The two primary additions handle security response to alerts or difficult situations and the service status of the local utilities. Every district in Night City 2045 and every building is given a Security Code. This gives a number representing the likelihood of designated security—appointed or self-appointed—responding to an alert, the faction (gang, Night City Olice Department, or security contractor) which will respond, and an Intensity descriptor—‘Light’, ‘Medium’, or ‘Medium’—which indicates the degree of that response. A Utility Code indicates whether or not the location or district has working access to power, water, and CitiNet, the latter the city’s information network. A Utility Code is given per district rather than per location. When narratively appropriate, the Game Master can roll against the Utility Code to see if the utilities are working, and of course, this can the situation the Edgerunners are in either easier or more difficult. The Security Code is the same whether the Edgerunners want to avoid security entanglements or alert local security. Both mechanics are incredibly simple and easy to use.

Apart from these two rules, Night City 2045 only includes stats for various NPCs found in particular districts. For example, Biotechnica Guards and Night City University Guards in University District, Night City Plaza Busker in The Glen, Combat Cabb Driver in South Night City, and Forklift Driver in Port of Night City. Many of these could appear elsewhere, the Night City Plaza Busker on a street corner or the Forklift Driver in any warehouse, for example.

As much information as there is in Night City 2045—and there is a lot—the supplement is not perfect. The problem is with the maps. The issue is that the orthographic maps in the original Night City supplement were great, whereas in Night City 2045 they are not. They are not terrible maps and they are serviceable, but anyone expecting more will be disappointed.

Physically, Night City 2045 is tidily presented. The artwork is used to depict each district at the head of each chapter and so capture some of the flavour described later. The maps are clear and simple, if unexciting.

Whether it is places where they live, places they want to go, places they have to go, Night City 2045 provides the Game Master with details and descriptions that she can use to bring the experiences of the Edgerunners to life. There are plenty of hooks too, which the Game Master can winkle out and develop, or perhaps let lie for the players and their Edgerunners to discover when perusing An Outsider’s Guide to Night City on their Agents. Versatile and packed full of lore, Night City 2045 is a supplement that the Cyberpunk RED Game Master will find very useful.

A Cyberpunk Conjuncture

The year is 2119. Following an environmental collapse precipitated by a limited nuclear exchange, humanity survives in eleven metropolises, great conglomerates encompassing whole cities and former countries, of which the largest is New Europe. Sitting in the centre of Europe, New Europe is a gigantic sprawl that takes in the former Germany, France, Belgium, and Luxembourg, as well as parts of Poland, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic, its environment maintained by great atmospheric processors. New Europe is governed by Gaia, an Artificial Intelligence developed by Hansor Innovations, which dedicates itself to the safety, health, and well-being of new Europe’s citizens. This has been brought about by tighter control of food production, increased surveillance, and roboticised law enforced with limited artificial intelligence. Gaia has also accelerated technological innovation and this has led to the development of cyberware, miniaturised power sources, and the information network known as the Core. Despite the intentions of Gaia, New Europe is no utopia, but a battleground. Outside of the safe zone communes, everyone has access to firearms and the streets are a warzone, if not necessarily one of open warfare. Crime and violence are rife, whether between criminal gangs, criminal gangs and law enforcement, law enforcement and radical protest groups, radical protest groups and corporations, corporations and other corporations, and corporations and mercs. The latter are hired mercenaries—ex-military and ex-law enforcement turned Operators, Core Hackers, Bio Hackers able to tap into the Neural Frame of other users, Parameds, Cyberdocs, MilTechs, Tech Traders, Data Dealers, and so on—that take contracts that further the aims of one corporation over another. Mercs give the corporations deniable assets, enabling them to continue rivalries without the need for open warfare. Yet the strangest aspect of this dystopia is that humanity is not alone. It is only eight years since the Vampires revealed their existence in frenzy of bloodletting, but eventually some asked for acceptance and the development of an artificial blood substitute in return for an end to their preying on humanity. Whether the very human-like Vril or the monstrous Norl, most Vampires have accepted the new situation, but some have not, hunting and preying upon humanity at the fringes of New Europe. Also revealing themselves at the same time were the Ferals, often weaker and suffering from more genetic defects than humanity, but otherwise identical except for the ability to Meld with another animal, such as a dog, cat, or rat, though in more recent times, some have melded with rarer, recreated, and cloned species. Both Vampires and Ferals, as well as the roboticised law enforcement and cyberware proponents are often the targets of radical pro-human groups and protestors.

This is the set-up for The Gaia Complex – A Game of Flesh and Wires, a Cyberpunk roleplaying game of street violence, espionage, vampiric uprisings, and overzealous A.I. governance, published by Hansor Publishing. It feels like a very traditional Cyberpunk roleplaying game, though with an obvious European bias, and with the oddity of the addition of the supernatural in the form of Vampires and Ferals. Of course, this is not the first time that Vampires and Cyberpunk have been brought together. Night’s Edge, published by Dream Pod 9 and Ianus Publications in 1993, brought vampires to Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0. from R. Talsorian Games Inc.. That though was an extra option, whereas here in The Gaia Complex, vampires are part of the setting and they add an element of the supernatural and horror to the fringes of that setting. In comparison, their inclusion is not as radical an addition to the Cyberpunk genre as fantasy is ShadowRun. Plus, they are not available as a Player Character options and should a vampire turn a Player Character, he becomes an NPC. It is possible to play a Feral though. They are not as physically strong as the average human, they have allied companion beasts, and their blood is actually poisonous to Vampires!

A Player Character in The Gaia Complex is Merc. He is either a Human or a Feral, and will have a Character Role. The ten Character Roles are Operator, Core Hacker, Bio Hacker, Paramed, Cyberdoc, MilTech, Mech, Tech Trader, Data Dealer, and Handler. Each Character Role sets a Player Character’s Favoured Stats, Core Skills, Starting Items, and a Trait, the latter, a special ability which kicks in under certain circumstances. For example, the Operator has the Favoured Stats of Brawn, Guts, and Reflexes; Core Skills of Firearms, Melee Weapons, Strategy, and Tracking; a Starting Item of a firearm or melee weapon; and the Trait of ‘Combat Readiness’, which grants an Operator a bonus to initiative, able to identity threats and respond to them faster. The Handler has the Favoured Stats of Allure and Perception; Core Skills of Animal Handling, Awareness, Meld, and Tracking; a Starting Item of an animal companion; and the Trait of ‘Feral Mind’, which represents the Feral’s honed mind and senses with a modifier to Awareness skill tests and the capacity to spend Grit to automatically pass a Meild skill test. The Player Character has seven stats—Brawn, Reflexes, Guts, Brains, Allure, and Perception—each rated between one and ten and each having six associated skills. Skills do not have a rating; a Player Character either has the skill or not. The seventh stat is Grit, which is a pool of points that can be spent to ensure success during play. A Player Character also a Disconnect score, which measures his biological functions versus the amount of cyberware he has installed.

Creating a Player Character is a matter of selecting a Character Role and applying its bonuses, dividing twenty-five points between the stats, and picking twelve skills in addition to those granted by the Character Role. This gives him a total of sixteen skills and two of them must be Specialisations. Lastly, the Player Character receives some clothing, somewhere to live, enough food to last a week, and a budget to spend on starting equipment and cybernetics. The process is quite straightforward; the most complicated part being making the choices in terms of equipment and cybernetics.

Name: Ottilie Harsholm
Character Role: Core Hacker
Trait: Digital Life

STATS
Brawn 3 (Unarmed Combat)

Reflexes 6 (Firearms, Pilot Drone, Stealth)
Guts 5 (Gambling, Streetwise)
Brains 8 (Electronics, Hacking, Mechanical, Programming)
Allure 4 (Barter, Deceive, Persuasion)
Perception 5 (Awareness, Lock Pick, Surveillance)
Grit 4

HIT POINTS
Endurance 9 Pressure 24
Morale 10 Disconnect 78
CYBERWARE
NVI ProKL Neural Frame, NVI Flashline Neural Rig, THD Drone Remote, DrillBit Mk.2, Transplant

Mechanically, The Gaia Complex uses what it calls the 12.3 System. To have a Player Character undertake an action, the appropriate Stat is first compared against the difficulty, ranging from one for very easy to almost impossible for eleven. If the appropriate Stat is equal to, or less than, the difficulty, the Player Character automatically succeeds and no roll is required. If a roll is required, the player rolls two twelve-sided dice and compares the result against the Stat. A success is generated if the result is equal to, or less than, the Stat.

If the Player Character has the appropriate skill, only one Success is required, but if the Player Character does not have the skill, a Success is required on both dice. If the task is still difficult, the Game Master can also apply a Complexity Modifier to the roll. If the skill is marked as a specialisation, a player can reroll any single die that did not roll a twelve. Grit can be spent to reduce the result rolled, each point spent, reducing the result on both die by one for each point spent—though not if a twelve was rolled. If the test is failed and either die rolled a twelve, the result is a critical failure. This can result in the loss of Endurance or Morale, inability to undertake the task again, gaining the wrong information, equipment failing, and so on.

Combat uses the same mechanics. Initiative is a simple roll of one die plus Reflexes or Perception and during each three second Combat Round, a combatant can perform one action—either Movement, Supporting, Close Combat Attack, or Ranged Attack. Any attack action requires a successful roll, again against the appropriate Stat. However, there is a greater range of Complexity Modifiers which can apply to the actual roll. For example, in close combat, charging adds a +1 Complexity Modifier and a +2 Complexity Modifier is added if the target is actively dodging, whereas in ranged combat, an aimed shot grants a -1 Complexity Modifier, a snapshot adds a +1 Complexity Modifier, and cover adds a variable Complexity Modifier depending upon how heavy it is. Burst allows a single damage die for the gun to be rerolled, any result of an eleven becomes a twelve, whilst suppressive fire applies a -1 Complexity Modifier, all damage dice to be rerolled, and any result of ten or eleven becomes a twelve. Each weapon has its own profile in terms of damage and effect, as well as background. A Player does need to keep track of how much ammunition has been used.

In terms of Hit Points, a Player Character has both Endurance and Pressure. Endurance represents his physical health and Pressure his mental health. Weapons inflict Endurance damage, typically 3d3+1 for a handgun, whilst attacks from programs in the Core or some

vampire abilities reduce Pressure. There are serious side effects if either Endurance or Pressure are reduced to five or less and if Endurance is reduced to zero, the Player Character is dead, and if Pressure reduced to zero, the Player Character is either brain dead or insane. There are also EMP weapons that can affect electronics and cybernetics. Armour will Endurance damage by a random amount, in some cases can be stacked, and optionally, can be damaged when it stops incoming blows. Other optional rules allow for knockdowns, hit locations, bleeding, and morale. Overall, the combat system is brutal.

As a Cyberpunk roleplaying game, The Gaia Complex includes a wide range of cyberware. Cyberarms and legs with storage comparts, magnetic plates, pop-up weapons, toolmate and TASER fingers; cybereyes with X-ray scanners, UV options, and targeting systems; cyberears with improved hearing range; cyberjaws with lockjaws and sharpened canines; titanium ribs and spinal replacement; neural frames and rigs for accessing the Core, storing data safely, and operating drones remotely; and more. Bioware options add improved hearts and lungs, whilst other implants include nasal filters, chip ports, and cable jacks, and exo-skeletons have their options. Many of the items of cyberware are available from legitimate CyberDocs where the newly installed devices will be legally recorded and also from backstreet CyberDocs who install ‘Hackjob’ versions of the devices, as functional, but often clunkier and more obvious, though without it being reported to the authorities. Either way, installing any device reduces the Player Character’s Disconnect. This starts out typically at about ninety, but is reduced for each item or upgrade. When Disconnect drops below fifty, the Player Character begins to suffer deleterious effects. ‘Hackjob’ versions tend to incur a greater Disconnect loss than legitimate versions.

The treatment of Hacking in The Gaia Complex is kept surprisingly short, just four pages long. Physically, it requires a Hacking Rig, Neural Frame, or Jack sockets and leads, and access can be found all across the city. Mechanically, it uses the Hacking skill and asks the player to define the objectives and the Game Master the number of layers of security that a hacker must penetrate or bypass to find the data he wants, access the permissions he wants, or plant the data he wants. The Game Master places countermeasures, such as a Data Wall, Cortex Trap, or Watch Dog, in these layers as challenges and threats that the Hacker has to overcome. All of this is played out in abstract fashion rather than mapping it necessarily, primarily relying on roleplaying to handle the narrative. The confrontations and encounters in the Core take roughly two to three seconds each, so that a Hacking attempt can be run alongside combat, although the Hacker can only focus on the attempt and finds it difficult to communicate.

Bio Hacking is treated in a similar fashion and length. Where Hacking involves electronically breaking into data systems and servers, Bio Hacking involves breaking into someone else’s mind, whether through the Core and into his Neural Frame or by directly jacking into the target’s systems via a port. Once inside, instead of experiencing the consensual network of neon and structure of the Core, the Bio Hacker finds himself in a void dotted with colourful nodes representing the target’s memories and the functions of his Neural Frame. It is extremely disorientating as the Bio Hacker constantly feels as if he is falling in a loop over and over, and it takes some getting used to. However, whilst in the target’s mind, the Bio Hacker can do a number of things. One is to steal desires, knowledge, memories, and secrets from the target, another is to plant thoughts, and even completely dominate the target to place them in forced servitude. As with Hacking, Bio Hacking is to be run in an abstract fashion, emphasising roleplaying with the Game Master setting up Bio Hacking Countermeasures for the Player Character to overcome.

As you would expect, The Gaia Complex includes an extensive list of arms, accessories, armour, clothing, hacking gear and accessories and programs, drones, accommodation and property, and more. Of course, it adds a range of animals for the Ferals’ Meld ability.

The non-Cyberpunk aspects of the setting of New Europe get their own sections, detailing in turn the world and cultures of the Ferals and the Vampires. Ferals have spent much of history as loners, drifters, and outsiders, and for the most part, still do in 2119. They simple lives, tend to avoid the use of cyberware, and when they do become Mercs, often follow their affinity for and love of animals to act against Sephron Corp, wanting to free the animals it clones. Feral culture continues to be street-based, the most notable organisation being the Circadian Network which operates throughout New Europe, managing a hidden surveillance and data trafficking network. Vampires, being non-human, receive more mechanical detail. What happens if someone is turned and becomes a Vampire, the special abilities that they can gain such as Deathtouch, Exsanguinate, Regeneration, Telekinesis, and Telepathy, and the rules of their survival, as well as their leading figures and corporations, like the Un-Set Corp; the vampire-operated investment firm, and Belvoit Media, a human/vampire co-run media firm specialising in urban advertisements.

There are details too, of the various corporations operating in New Europe, and in the wider world, New Europe and the other metropolises. Here there are descriptions of each of the districts of New Europe, all of the city or country sized, giving a bit of flavour and background so that the Game Master has reason to get her Player Characters there and feel enough to describe it to her players. Less useful are the descriptions of the other ten metropolises around the world since environmental effects have limited contact and travel between them for decades. Although the metropolises do feel reminiscent of the world of Judge Dredd from the pages of 2000 AD, their inclusion does give the Game Master a greater feel for the world. More useful perhaps is the information on the major corporations operating in New Europe as they provide at least a set of potential employers and targets.

There is decent, if brief, advice for the Game Master along with three data seeds—extended plot outlines—and good advice on inclusivity and safety. However, the last fifteen pages of The Gaia Complex is devoted to ‘The Truth Behind The Screen’. This gives the real history of the future of New Europe, shifting the setting in a radically unexpected direction and potentially changing what the roleplaying game setting purports to be. It includes an actual timeline that encompasses everything, which is slightly annoying because there is no timeline without those changes earlier in the book for the players’ benefit. As welcome as this new and expanded background and timeline are, it is of limited use. The problem is that there is no accompanying advice on how to use this extra timeline and background details, on how to bring it to the attention of the Player Characters, and how they might learn of it, and what they might do if they learn of it. So, at best, the Game Master can run the setting as is, as a more or less straight cyberpunk roleplaying game, but with supernatural elements, and perhaps begin work in the esoteric elements of the deeper background if she wants to and is confident enough to do so. Either that or wait for a supplement that brings it into play, because otherwise, the secret background is interesting, but just not yet relevant on the strength of the core rulebook alone.

Physically, The Gaia Complex is well presented. The artwork is excellent, but the cartography is serviceable at best and the book is slightly overwritten in parts. Every chapter is prefaced with a piece of colour fiction that helps to bring the setting to life.

The Gaia Complex – A Game of Flesh and Wires is a surprisingly light roleplaying game for the Cyberpunk genre, at least mechanically. In terms of setting, it feels very much like a standard Cyberpunk dystopia, complete with widespread violence, gangs, feuding corporations, and overbearing A.I. directed governance, though one with a European emphasis and one with a view of weirdness and horror with the inclusion of the Ferals and Vampires. The European emphasis gives it a certain freshness of a long history upended and a less traditional setting for the genre, whilst the horror and the weirdness give it an unexpected, if slight bite.

Magazine Madness 46: Interface RED Volume 5

The gaming magazine is dead. After all, when was the last time that you were able to purchase a gaming magazine at your nearest newsagent? Games Workshop’s White Dwarf is of course the exception, but it has been over a decade since Dragon appeared in print. However, in more recent times, the hobby has found other means to bring the magazine format to the market. Digitally, of course, but publishers have also created their own in-house titles and sold them direct or through distribution. Another vehicle has been Kickststarter.com, which has allowed amateurs to write, create, fund, and publish titles of their own, much like the fanzines of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest. The resulting titles are not fanzines though, being longer, tackling broader subject matters, and more professional in terms of their layout and design.

—oOo—

Technically Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 5 is not a magazine. It collects some of the downloadable content made available for Cyberpunk RED, the fourth edition of R. Talsorian Games, Inc.’s Cyberpunk roleplaying game. So, its origins are not those of a magazine, but between 1990 and 1992, Prometheus Press published six issues of the magazine, Interface, which provided support for both Cyberpunk 2013 and Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0. It is this mantle that Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 1, Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 2, Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 3, Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 4, and future issues is picking up in providing support for the current edition of the roleplaying game. As a consequence of the issue collecting previously available downloadable content, there is a lot in the issue that is both immediately useful and can be prepared for play with relative ease. There is also some that is not, and may not even make it into a Game Master’s campaign.

Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 5 starts by adding some crunch to your Cyberpunk RED campaign. Quite literally. With ‘Breaking Your Stuff: Rules for Maintaining (and Damaging) Gear’, the Edgerunners have to deal with the wear and tear on their weapons and gear, and the need to maintain it. It can now be categorised as ‘Damaged’ as well as ‘Destroyed’ and ‘Destroyed Beyond Repair’, which allows it to be repaired or used with a penalty. Maintenance can be part of an Edgerunner’s Lifestyle level if the item does not exceed that Lifestyle level, but if it does, he will have to pay to keep it functioning. There are Role-based exceptions, such as Rockerboys having a Lifestyle one level higher for the benefit of maintaining musical instruments and other equipment. Lack of maintenance can lead to breakdowns, as can other damage, but when a player rolls a natural one to use a damaged or poorly maintained, malfunctions can happen. Tables list possible malfunctions for a range of devices and weapons and the Game Master can always make up more. This adds a level of realism to the play of Cyberpunk RED, but it may be a touch too much for some groups. Others will like the grit adds to the streets of Night City.

The Edgerunners may have had the chance to play Roller Derby as part of the campaign, Tales of the RED: Hope Reborn, but ‘Chasing The Rabbit: Roller Derby in the Time of the Red’ gives the full details of the game and the Night City Wonderland League and its twelve teams. It can be the focus of a scenario or two, but there is the possibility here that Roller Derby could be the central focus of a campaigned, perhaps combining a Streel Level campaign with a sports-based campaign. The combination would have lots of inspiration to draw upon and would work well for a short to medium length campaign.

In the Time of the RED, everyone has an Agent, an A.I. in their pocket that is one half-communication device, one-half computer, providing entertainment, handling calls and messages, filters news, tracks tasks, orders groceries, and more. Much like everyone today attached to their mobile phone, the Agent is very personal to its user. ‘All About Agents: Your Best Friend in your Pocket’ looks at the history of the Agent, their origins being in a game console that did not sell well in 2020 and got hacked to do much of what an Agent does today. The manufacturer of that game console tried to adapt, but other manufacturers came to dominate the market with models like the EBM PiR2 or Raven Microcybernetics Drake, the latter an internal model. An Agent can be hacked and there are rules for this, but this will get the hacker into serious trouble if discovered. The article includes models and apps ready to buy and install, but where Agents get interesting is the little details that they can add to play. They reflect their user and depending upon the personality installed, the Game Master can have fun roleplaying them and interacting with their owners, having them become unpredictable due to spotty connections and dead spots, and even offer the very occasional piece of advice to their owners. This is an article that helps the Game Master bring another aspect of daily life in Cyberpunk RED into the busy lives of her Edgerunners and makes it just a touch more immersive.

‘Toggle’s Temple: Be Ready When the Dolphins Invade’ brings back a lot of guns from Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0. and gives them stats for Cyberpunk RED. Which makes a lot of sense, since in as heavily armed as the society was in 2020, there are going to be a lot of firearms to be found two decades later. So welcome back Militech Avenger, Dai Lung Streetmaster, Arasaka Minami 10, and others. The article couples this with a secret underground armoury, gun range, and configurable weapons-based obstacle course in Night City run by a man known as Toggle. And Toggle has a gloriously wild conspiracy theory about Cetaceans! A perfect combination of stats and off-kilter colour.

‘Did Someone Say Murder? An Investigation System for Cyberpunk RED’ does what it says and gives mechanics, advice, and examples for running mysteries in Cyberpunk RED. Edgerunners gain a new stat called ‘Focus’, derived from Intelligence and Will and expended to make Evidence Checks over the course of an investigation, and then recovered by whole days of rest. A mystery has a Goal and a Complexity rating; the latter being reduced by successful Evidence Checks as if Complexity was actually the mystery’s Hit Points. A successful Evidence Check also gain a clue. Clues even have the equivalent of armour, called Obfuscation, reducing the damage done by the Evidence Check. If the Obfuscation is zero, then the clue could be a first-hand witness statement or complete recording which points clearly towards the solution, but if as high as six, it might only be a rumour or grainy footage. Obstacles such as a remote location or a red herring or corporate interference will impede the Edgerunners’ investigative efforts, inflicting Focus damage if they are successful, but more damage if they are not.

The article turns the mystery into a construct of a kind, complete with Hit Points, that the Edgerunners are fighting, and likely fighting long term. So, there is an artificiality to both mystery and the investigative process that the Game Master may want to make less obvious so that the investigation is less of a game and more of an organic process. Of course, good roleplaying will help on both sides of the screen. Nevertheless, the system is workable, the advice solid, and the examples given are decent.

‘Your New Best Friend: Welcome to the Bottom of the Food Chain’ looks at the new range of cyberpets (and the dangers of keeping them) from Biotechnica. Want a lovable Forever Turtle™ (comes with combat jaw and its own Trauma Response account for longevity), cute and fluffy Datarabbit™ (complete with EMP-protected storage locker for holding sensitive memory chip in its eye), or Neon Newt™ (with acid-secreting skin and flamethrower breath)? Here are the rules and stats for them and more. An owner needs a good Animal Handling skill to train a Cyberpet and maintain the Cyberpet’s own Lifestyle level in addition to his own! The article describes nine Cyberpets old and new, new Cyberpet cyberware, and includes four hooks that the Game Master can use. These are fun new toys that the Edgerunners and their players can play with—if they can afford them, and the Game Master can use to out the occasional memorable NPC.

‘Screamsheet Generator: Creating Headlines for your Campaign’ is an excellent toolkit for the Game Master to create Screamsheets, the equivalent of newspapers in Cyberpunk RED. It is really several tables of prompts, but these are all good and the process is shown off with a good example of the process that works through a pitfall or two along the way. It provides another way to add verisimilitude to a campaign. The penultimate entry in Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 5 is the eponymous ‘The 12 Days of REDMAS: A Cyberpunk Red Holiday Tradition’. This is a collection of goodies and gear to satisfy most gearheads and cyberware junkies, from the Centurion Essentials Thermal Dagger which slices and stabs and as much as it sets defenders on fire, to a Zetatech CyberConductor that enables a Netrunner to have three Cyberdecks in parallel and switch between them that comes with some program shutdown, so he can have access to more programs ready to run. As with Christmas presents, there should be something here for everyone.

Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 5 comes to close with a big article which both adjusts the scale of Cyberpunk RED and the stage upon which it is played as well as providing an update for three whole supplements for both Cyberpunk 2013 and Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0., ‘Solo of Fortune 2045’ takes up almost a third of the issue and provides a state of affairs guide to mercenary work in the 2040s. In the process it updates the popular supplements Solo of Fortune, Solo of Fortune 2, and Maximum Metal. However, it is not the full update of Maximum Metal in that it does not detail tanks, artillery, ground-support aircraft, and other armoured vehicles. Rather, it keeps it personal with an examination of Advanced Combat Personal Armour or ‘ACPA’ suits, along new equipment, weapons, modifications, and more. The ‘editor’ of Solo of Fortune stresses that the magazine is for professionals and not ‘posers’ and in game terms it adds ‘Mercenary Level’ above the ‘Street Level’ of games where the Solo is not just the combat specialist, but also Hardened in terms of power level and will expect to face similar threats.

The ’magazine’ breaks down mission types and examines what Mercenary Level is as well as detailing new equipment like barrel extensions (and their increased ranges); adding ‘Machine Gun’ and ‘Autofire’ as categories; and listing numerous new weapons from manufacturers old and new. Burrowing ammunition, explosive ammunition, and high precision ammunition are also available for arrows, bullets, and slugs; new explosives and surplus armour such as Heavy, Hybrid, and Light Metalgear; and plenty of new chemicals and dispensers. Pride of place, of course, goes to the ‘ACPA’ suits and the rules for them. This includes operation, fabrication and repair, and design. The latter enables a Solo to order the parts and have a Tech construct them into a working machine, or of course, a Solo can just buy (and modify) an off-the-shelf design. The latter includes some familiar models such as the Militech Commando and the Zhirafa Boris in addition to new designs.

Add in to this some colour fiction which sets the groundwork for Mercenary Level games, gives advice for players new to the power level, and throws in some history that fans of Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0. will specifically as well as some mission ideas and a full mercenary Level Screamsheet and ‘Solo of Fortune 2045’ just about gives everything that the Game Master and her players might want to take a Solo-focused campaign up a notch or two. There is probably still room for a full Solo of Fortune supplement for Cyberpunk RED, but in the meantime, ‘Solo of Fortune 2045’ is perfect for the Solo who really wants to go professional and the Game Master who wants to shift her campaign away from the streets.

Physically, Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 5 is cleanly, tidily laid out. The artwork is decent too and everything is easy to read.

Although much of it was originally available for free and of course, all of it is optional, as with previous issues, having it all in print in Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 5 is a great compilation and great support for Cyberpunk RED. There is so much in its pages that will find its way into any Game Master’s campaign and much that will extend it too in unexpected ways, such as sending it onto a Roller Derby rink, giving advice and structure to mysteries (murders and otherwise), and turning up the power for Mercenary Level. Plus, there is much that will add little details to the Game Master’s campaign like creating Screamsheet handouts and giving a touch of agency to Agents. All of it together, Interface RED: A Collection for Cyberpunk RED Enthusiasts Volume 5 is another great issue.

Cyber-Dungeon Classics

NetCrawl does something strange and different. Strange because it pulls the Player Characters into a liminal space, a virtual space known as the WorldNet, an unreality where hours and minutes might pass in seconds in the ‘real’ world, and where they must overcome ICE—Intrusion Countermeasures—in order fulfil their mission in Cyberspace. This might simply be to pull off a robbery or steal some information, locate a piece of software or a person, and so on, but it needs to be done without attracting the attention of the god-like A.I.s which control everything! Different because unlike most roleplaying games that access Cyberspace, such as Cyberpunk Red or Shadowrun – Sixth World, what NetCrawl does is involve all of the players and all of their characters in that translation into Cyberspace, where they will work together to achieve their aims. Netcrawl is a roleplaying game that also works as a supplement for use with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game and the Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic, both published by Goodman Games. Published by Horse Shark Games, it shifts the Player Characters, or ‘Users’, out of ‘Reality’ and into ‘Cyberspace’ as ‘Avatars’. Inside this virtual world, they face not I.C.E. or Intrusion Counter Electronics per se, but Intrusion Counter Entities. There is not so much a virtual world as a cyber-dungeon. These are not the only dangers in Netcrawl. There is a chance of being detected and worse being noticed by the deities that are the A.I.s. Netcrawl is a setting suitable for one-shots as perhaps the Player Characters from another setting suddenly find themselves transported into a virtual world, hacking into a system in a Science Fiction setting like Mutant Crawl Classics as well as various also third-party settings such as Cyber Sprawl Classics, Crawljammer, Umerica, Terror of the Stratosfiend, and Star Crawl Classics. Plus, of course, it can simply be a roleplaying setting all of its own.

In NetCrawl, the Player Characters are ‘Avatars’. An Avatar has six characteristics—Power, Agility, Vitality, Wits, Psyche, and Hack. The latter enables an Avatar to manipulate the code which runs the WorldNet and its modifier affects critical hits, fumbles, and the like, and points of it can be permanently expended to gain a one-time bonus. It is the equivalent of Luck in Dungeon Crawl Classics, and can only be regained by great acts or courage, the Ciphomorph and Grifter Classes. An Avatar has access to three categories of skills—Security, Investigative, and Code Execution—of which he will typically be trained in one. Security covers breaking into and avoiding hazards in secured systems; Investigative skills provide clues; and Code Execution is exactly that. An Avatar will also have a certain amount of RAM. This varies by Class and Level, but is spent to purchase Daemons or equipment, Mod Chips, Programs, and Scripts.

Netcrawl has five Classes. The Avartarist sees the WorldNet as being alive and can Repattern WorldNet and holographic objects to heal them, receives a bonus Holo Die to run programs, and is bonded to an A.I. The Ciphomorph is native to the WorldNet and gains bonuses when rolling for Execute Program and the use of Hack, as well as being able to share Hack with others. The Cybernaut specialises in running Programs and can Burndown Vitality, Wits, or Psyche score to enhance the Program check. The Grifter specialises as either an Intrusion Specialist, Threat Eliminator, or Data Savant. The Intrusion Specialist is good at breaking into systems and hiding his tracks; the Threat Eliminator can harm ICE; and the Data Savant focuses on finding, analysing, and synthesising data. The Grifter also uses finished Scripts, programs with a static outcome and is also good at using skills. The Wardriver focuses on speed and power, relying on Mod Chips rather than Programs or Scripts, as well as Daemons for offensive and defensive countermeasures. Mod Chips give bonuses in combat and the Wardriver has a number of slots for his Mod Chips, being to swap and activate them, as necessary. There are different models for each type of Mod Chip, each proving a better bonus than the earlier ones and as the Wardriver’s Mod Die improves the better the bonus he gains from the Mod Chip. For example, the Brute Mk. I Mod Chip grants a +1 bonus to unarmed attacks, but the Brute Mk. II Mod Chip gives a bonus to both unarmed attacks and damage. Then with a Mod Die of three, the Wardriver gains +1 to his Armour Class whilst unarmed, whereas with a Mod Die of three, he gains the Armour Class modifier and an additional attack with a fourteen-sided die. The various Mod Chips cover ranged attacks, rate of fire, initiative, and more

What is important here is that this Avatar is a projection of a person into the WorldNet via a mix of hardware, software, and data, together known as a ‘Rig’. This person could be a ‘real-world’ person jacked in, a server in the Cloud, or other virtual entity, and is known as the ‘Host’. The ‘Host’ grants an Avatar a Hack modifier, much like the Star Sign does to Player Characters in Dungeon Crawl Classics. For example, ‘Samurai Mk. VII’ grants a modifier to ‘Daemon melee attack rolls’, whilst ‘Grid Punch Gold’ modifies the Avatar’s ‘Speed’. This is rolled for all Player Characters, including Zero Level Avatars who can then be run through ‘The Gig’. This is an entry-level scenario, the equivalent of the Funnel, one of the signature features of both the Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game and the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game that Netcrawl is mechanically based upon—in which initially, a player is expected to roll up three or four Level Zero characters and have them play through a generally nasty, deadly adventure, which surviving will prove a challenge. Those that do survive receive enough Experience Points to advance to First Level and gain all of the advantages of their Class. As entry-level software, the Avatars are essentially network & system software, developer toolkits, and hacker tools.

Avatars wield a variety of Daemons, or items of equipment, which are divided in several categories—Melee, Ranged, Protective, and Support. The weapons and armour are mix of the old and the new, but all with a Cyberpunk theme. Thus, the katana alongside razor claws and the monowire whip. Some of these are nicely adjusted so that nunchuku has a bonus to Fumble rolls and the ICE pick will subvert ICE! In general, the melee weapons are more fun than the ranged weapons, though going into battle with a screamin’ skull that fires a cone attack or a viral gun that shoots malware is entertaining. The Protective daemons are more descriptive, but it is possible to use a Firewall as temporary ablative armour, although some versions reduce a character’s Action die. There are also Datagrams which provide small, one-off boosts to an action, such as ‘Electric jolt’, which forces a target to lose its next action if it fails a Reflex saving throw or ‘Logon credentials’, which grants a bonus to a False Identity check.

In general, combat in Netcrawl works like combat in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game. However, there are some changes to account for the change in genre and setting. This includes ICE being able to enact ‘Traceback’ and track and even attack an intruding Avatar, HupLock an Avatar to prevent it from logging out or a Kick to force a disconnection. Lost Health is regained in Maintenance Cycles, whilst an Avatar reduced to zero Hit Points is de-rezzed, begins to pixelate and lose digital cohesion, but can be re-rezzed, either through certain programs or the Avartarist’s Repattern ability and restored to positive Hit Points. Some Avatars—Ciphomorph or Grifter—can channel their Hacking ability to attack opponents, shatter objects, and even launch a counterattack against program assaults. This requires the expenditure of points of Psyche, the result determined by a roll on the ‘Hacking Result Table’ or compared with the roll made for the program targeting the hacker, this being resolved as per the rules for spell duelling in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game.

In addition, an Avatar can install Mod chips that boost his combat abilities. For example, ‘Punisher’ grants extra damage and deadlier critical hits, ‘Stutter’ glitches an opponent’s movements and actions, and ‘Hardware’ provides defence and protection from special attacks. These are graded from ‘Mark I’ to ‘Mark IV’, as well as ‘Advanced’, and each has a minimum character Level.

Avatars have access to a variety of Programs. There are different types of code in the WorldNet of NetCrawl, but Programs are inert packets of static code that when run generate a variety of different effects in order to complete a specific function. They include Decrypt/Decompile, which makes the source code of a program human readable; Glitch causes a robot, A.I., or computerised target to buzz quietly and do nothing for one or more rounds; and Exploit allows an Avatar to implant malice code—computer virus, worm, backdoor, and the like—and so mechanically, impose a penalty into a creature biological or artificial. When an Avatar wants to execute a Program, his player rolls a Program check and compares the result to the table for the Program being run. A critical roll grants extra benefits, whilst a fumble means that a bug, fault, or critical error has occurred, and the player must roll on the tables for these possible effects. Mechanically, Programs work the same as spells in Dungeon Crawl Classics and mutations in Mutant Crawl Classics, but thematically, they are in some ways very different. Many help with particular skills, such as Pattern Recognition for the Data Analysis skill and some model the effects of classic Dungeon Crawl Classics spells in the WorldNet, like Subjugate works similar to Charm and Clone creates holographic images of the Avatar much like Mirror Image creates images of the casting Wizard. Other Programs draw from the world of computing and hacking, like Crack, a Program that breaks through Intrusion Countermeasures Electronic and other defences through brute force.

There is a list of potential Patron A.I.s, though the Judge is advised that they are optional. They do provide their own Programs, and a bonded Avatar can run Invoke Patron A.I. to trigger further benefits. The main issue with the Patron A.I.s given in NetCrawl is that the Judge will need access to other content, including Mutant Crawl Classics, and both Scions of the Computarchs #1, Scions of the Computarchs #2, and Scions of the Computarchs #3.

There are some notes on visualising the WorldNet and running Netcrawl, and a guide to creating the various A.I.s, Avatars, ICE, Viruses, and Bots. This is because there no generic ‘monsters’ in NetCrawl. There are some examples though along with the tables of options for the Judge to create her own. Of course, this enables a Judge to individualise the threats that here players’ Avatars will face, but it does require more input and thought than using a traditional bestiary would.

Rounding out NetCrawl is the short adventure, ‘The Core Queen Slumber’. It is designed for First Level Avatars, who have to infiltrate a data server and locate a one-eyed wizard who has the information that they are looking for. They will need to manipulate the systems around the data server, hopefully without alerting the Core Queen, in order access it. There is a puzzle element to the adventure, which will definitely take a playing group less than a session to complete. It works as a taster for the setting or as task to slot into a loner and fuller scenario.

Physically, Netcrawl is decently written, but the layout is often jarring because it uses a lot of vibrant colours on black backgrounds which some may have difficulty reading. The switch to the standard layout for spells in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game or mutant powers in the Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game for the Programs is also jarring, although more easily red. The artwork is decent and a nice touch for ‘The Core Queen Slumber’ adventure is that the locations are drawn as per the ray-traced depiction of the virtual world a la the film Tron.

Netcrawl is an interesting roleplaying game and setting that expands the format of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game and the Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game into a virtual realm. It is well done and is perfect for the Judge who wants to drop her players’ characters into the realms of cyberspace and have them explore its virtual reality.

Yet conceptually, NetCrawl raises two issues. One is technical in nature. This is that there is a radical shift for the Judge and her players, not in terms necessarily of what their Avatars do, since it is suggested that the WordNet is a cyber-dungeon, but in terms of terminology, language, and how they do it. Adjusting to this is going to take some effort upon the part of both player and Judge, especially if they are not overly familiar with the Cyberpunk genre. To that end, examples of play and a bibliography would have been helpful.

The other issue is conceptual. Why play Netcrawl? After all, although not necessarily an unfamiliar genre, it is a niche roleplaying game, and it is not easy to use. This is because there is no ‘real world’ space against which to play the WorldNet off of, which raises questions where the WorldNet is, how it relates to the real world, and why are the Player Characters jacking into it? There is no discussion of motivation in NetCrawl and that is something that the Judge and the players will need to develop to have their Avatars explore the WorldNet. However, the liminality of NetCrawl does open up possibilities as it being a connecting space between worlds, so that a party of Player Characters could find themselves entering the WorldNet and after adventuring there, popping out again in another world, or roleplaying game setting. Alternatively, those worlds or roleplaying game settings could actually be massively virtual spaces within WorldNet itself. So there are ways of using NetCrawl, but as a roleplaying game on its own, it lacks strong underlying Player Character motivations and reasons to explore its setting in the long term.

Synth Sedition

With its near future setting of a San Franciso ravaged by climate change and protected from the sea by seawalls, the bulk of its population having moved off-world  in ‘The Scramble for Stars’ to start again on the megacorporate-sponsored colonies, and the use of Synths or biological androids as a pliable workforce in their stead, Carbon 2185: A Cyberpunk RPG feels very much inspired by Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049. Published two years after the latter film by British publisher, Dragon Turtle Games, Ltd., Carbon 2185: A Cyberpunk RPG is also noticeable for the fact that its mechanics are derived from those used for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. Despite the lack of a Human workforce to replace them, not everyone is happy with the use of Synths as what they see as slave labour, and some have taken this further with the Synth Liberation Front, which supports escaped Synths and protects them against the government’s ‘retirement agents’ as well as striking at manufacturers such as Villeneuve Robotics. This theme is explored in Interlinked | A Carbon 2185 Mission Book, a scenario for Cyberpunks—as Player Characters are known in Carbon 2185—of First and Second Level. It is designed to be easy to run and is suitable for both new players and new Game Masters and it would not be difficult to run it after the events of ‘Chow’s Request: A Carbon 2185 Adventure for 1st Level Cyberpunks’, the scenario in the core rulebook.

Interlinked | A Carbon 2185 Mission Book pulls the Cyberpunks deep into the underground conflict between the Synth Liberation Front, the government’s ‘retirement agents’, the corporations manufacturing and employing Synths, and the manufacturer’s own reclamation agents. Set in San Franciso, it is a five to six act affair, plus a prequel, that the Game Master can run in two or three sessions. It opens with ‘Road Block’, the short prequel which sets the Cyberpunks up against the villains of the piece, Villeneuve Robotics. It provides the players and their Cyberpunks with a solid selection of motives as why they would take a job against Villeneuve Robotics above and beyond the generous amount of money that the fixer is offering. It consists of the simple smash and grab of some corporate access codes from a tech support team on its way to a Villeneuve Robotics facility followed by the Cyberpunks having to break into the facility and download a data core. Everything seems set up for easy access to the facility as someone seems to have set it on fire, meaning that security and everything else is in an array! It is a simple affair, with lots of options and suggestions as to how the Cyberpunks might go about the mission.

The scenario proper, ‘Interlinked’ follows quickly on. The Cyberpunks’ employer, the Fixer  Rico ‘Replay’ Montoya gives them another job. They are to break into a Frisco’s Finest Production Facility where several popular lines of food are manufactured, upload some data, and get out, preferably without a loss of life. Unfortunately, there is no fire to distract corporate security, so the Cyberpunks need to find a way to get in on their own. What is common to both facilities is the use of Synths as a workforce and deployment of armed security, the latter actually bored with their duties at Frisco’s Finest. Again, various options are suggested as how they might get in and get out, the latter more detailed as the Cyberpunks have to succeed at four types of task to escape without alerting security.

In both ‘Road Block’ and the start of ‘Interlinked’, the Cyberpunks get to see the Synths put to work and plenty of evidence that they are treated as second or even third-class citizens—even if they can be classified as citizens. In the next part, the Cyberpunks are contacted by Kaito Tanaka, a local electronics restoration store owner, who asks them to find Thomas ‘Willy’ Williams, a Villeneuve Robotics employee who is unhappy with the treatment of Synths and wants to leave Villeneuve Robotics. Of course, Villeneuve Robotics is unhappy with this, and by the time the Cyberpunks catch up with Williams, Villeneuve Robotics security teams and mercenary squads in their employ, are close behind. The resulting encounter should ideally result in a chase and Interlinked | A Carbon 2185 Mission Book gives a quick and dirty means of running this (and again, if the Game Master needs to run another chase).

Depending upon the outcome of the previous encounters, the Cyberpunks may need to rescue Thomas ‘Willy’ Williams or even one of their own, if Villeneuve Robotics captures either. The scenario supports this possibility with details of the Villeneuve Robotics Reclamation Centre, which can also be used as a target for the Synth Liberation Front to employ the Cyberpunks to assault in an attempt to free the Synths there. In whatever way it is used, it effectively means that the Cyberpunks can see the creation of Synths in the first part of the scenario and the destruction of Synths in this part. This is another corporate facility, but one that the scenario makes clear is not much different to an abattoir, even if it’s a high tech abattoir. In the earlier part of the scenario, the players and their Cyberpunks will have seen signs of the poor, and even ill, treatment of Synths, but here they will be confronted with direct evidence that Synths are treated as tools, ones that are discarded and destroyed. Make no mistake, Interlinked | A Carbon 2185 Mission Book wants the players and their Cyberpunks to feel sympathy with the Synths and be on their side.

Penultimately, the Cyberpunks have one final job to do for Thomas ‘Willy’ Williams and a Synth that he wants to get out of San Francisco. This is to escort them onto the B.A.R.T.—or ‘Bay Area Rapid Transit’—and thus get them out of the city. The challenge here is not that Villeneuve Robotics has sent security teams after them, but that B.A.R.T. is neutral ground in the city and weapons are not allowed. B.A.R.T. enforces this arduously. So, when it comes to any confrontation, the Cyberpunks will have to rely on their fists and feet, on their ingenuity, and any cyberweapons that they have installed. This sets up the classic good guys versus the bad guys railway station confrontation scene seen in so many films. The nod to film scenes, and the Film Noir genre, continues with the aftermath of the scenario as it quickly becomes apparent that the Synth Liberation Front is not as morally pure as the Cyberpunks might have first thought and likely have been led to believe up that point. The end of the scenario is more open and player-led than the earlier more directed chapters.

Physically, Interlinked | A Carbon 2185 Mission Book could be tidier and better presented in places. It is lightly illustrated with decent enough artwork. The floor plans are also decent enough, in the main depicting corporate or factory locations, so there is an anodyne regularity to them. It would have helped had the maps been given a key to their locations for easy reference.

Carbon 2185: A Cyberpunk RPG is an interesting setting and Interlinked | A Carbon 2185 Mission Book provides reasonable, if unspectacular support for it. With its multiple factory style targets, it does feel monotone in its depiction of the Carbon 2185 future and the Game Master may want to run other short scenarios in between the chapters to add a little variety. Of course, Interlinked | A Carbon 2185 Mission Book can be used as source material for any Cyberpunk roleplaying game that the Game Master is running, but as is, it works well enough.